Gen-X

As an early adolescent I remember hearing about this awful Generation X of screw-up kids who didn't care about anything except MTV. At least that's what the "old timers" said. For years I sat in limbo, because I didn't approach life that way. I wasn't a slacker. But, the day soon came when I realized that I was, in fact, part of Generation X. The perameters of Generation X are 1965 and 1981. As a child of the late 70s (ha!ha!), I am at the tail end. Some of my faithful readers may not have known that they are indeed Gen-Xers. The rest of you (minus one or two Baby Boomers) are part of Generation Y also known as the Millenial Generation. The sometimes great thing about my life is that I seem to be on the cusp of everything- I'm on the Leo/Virgo cusp and I straddle the line between these two generations. So, I get the benefits of both but no clear identity. So, I'm still left wondering where in the world do I belong? Do I want to be part of "the least nurtured generation in American history" or the one when parents actually started caring about their kids again? I have heard that one of the heralds in the generational divide is the little yellow Baby on Board sign. It started appearing somewhere between 1981 and 1983- after Gen-Xers were born. I'm probably boring the crap out of some of you, but I think that the generational divide is very significant and might help explain a few things. How many times have some of us lamented that we just don't understand the way some people think and conduct their lives even though we're only a few years apart? We bang our heads against the wall wondering how in the world someone who grew up in the same family can see the world so differently. Well, we may be in the same family but different generations. Gen-Xers are typically cynical and are called the latch-key kids because after school they went home to empty houses due to career driven parents or single parent homes. Gen-X people value extended families of friends. While parents seemed to be absent for Gen-X, Gen Y parents took a turn toward "overparenting and indulgence combined with perhaps overly adult and mature relationships" with their kids. It is so hard for me to understand the "my mom is my best-friend and we know everything about each other" thing. Not that it's wrong. I think there are good implications as well as bad. This group also values instant success and can be very self-centered. They say that this comes from the dot com revolution when all sorts of young people made a lot of money really fast. On the good side, Gen Y is very technologically savy, open-minded and tolerant.

I know that people can't be catagorized and that not every Gen-Xer or Gen-Yer has had the experiences described. But, these characterizations really ring true to me and help me to understand the differences in world/life view that are apparant in my relationships with family and friends a little bit younger than me. I guess I'll just have to accept that for some reason kids became a lot more important to the world a few years after I was cute and cuddly. Perception is reality: if people treat you like you're special, you must be and vice versa. Although this is really a sociological issue, I find everything about generational theory fascinating. What made our grandparents the Greatest Generation, what made the Baby Boomers so greedy, what made Gen-X so cynical and apathetic, what made Gen-Y so self-important? Recently, I heard that the current group of students in grade school is the largest since the Baby Boom and will probably surpass it. That's amazing! What does that mean for the future of our economy and our country in general? What will shape this new Baby Boom?

Ok, ok... I have gotten way too geeky excited about this generational stuff, so I'll stop before I betray my ditzy, blonde persona even more than I already have.